Instructions: FREEZING CHOPPED: Dip tomatoes very briefly in boiling water, then peel, removing any bruised or blemished spots as you go. Roughly chunk fruit into a large bowl. Choose a nonreactive kettle large enough to hold tomatoes in a layer no more than five inches deep. Drain tomato juice

(made when cutting tomatoes in chunks) into kettle and bring to boil. Add tomatoes, return to boil and cook one minute more. Add a dash of salt, no more. Allow to cool slightly, then pack into yogurt tubs, cottage cheese cartons or other rigid containers, leaving an inch of head room and freeze. Use in any recipe in which tomatoes would be cooked.

FREEZING PUREE: To keep a large quantity of tomatoes for future use, peel and puree them and freeze in ice cube trays, then pop out of trays and pack in plastic bags for freezer storage. When tomato flavor is needed for soups, stews or sauces, simply use as many cubes as necessary.

DEHYDRATOR: As directed. To test for dryness, scoop up a handful of tomatoes, squeeze them together and then drop them. If the individual tomatoes separate, they are ready to be stored.

ONE WAY TO STORE: put a teaspoon of olive oil and a leaf of fresh basil between the halves of each tomato, seed sides together, and pack tightly into a jar. Sprinkle with coarsely ground black pepper and continue layering tomatoes in the jar (approximately 30 dried tomatoes can be packed into a half-pint jar). Add another teaspoon of olive oil to filled jar along with additional ground black pepper and another fresh basil leaf. Screw cap on tight. At the end of the first day turn the jar upside down and allow oil to run back over tomatoes before storing. They will keep indefinitely.

If you would like to email yourself the recipe for later use, or share the recipe with your friends or family, enter the email addresses below and this recipe will be emailed to you and others as well.